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TOP STORIES
1. Rumsfeld Rejects Idea Of Returning To The Draft
(Washington Times)...Guy Taylor
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld yesterday dismissed the notion of reinstating the military draft, saying that the Pentagon, if needed, can dig deeper into Reserve and National Guard forces to relieve troops deployed in the war on terrorism.
2. Marines Warn Of Battle In Fallouja
(Los Angeles Times)...Tony Perry and Patrick J. McDonnell
U.S. Marines encircling this volatile city west of Baghdad plan to storm into town within days if insurgents do not comply with a cease-fire agreement and relinquish their heavy arms, the top Marine general in Iraq warned Thursday.
3. U.S. Plans Elite Iraqi Force For Security
(USA Today)...Jim Michaels
The U.S.-led coalition is recruiting Iraqis for an elite volunteer unit that would fight fellow Iraqis resisting the occupation of the country.
4. White House Says Iraq Sovereignty Could Be Limited
(New York Times)...Steven R. Weisman
The Bush administration's plans for a new caretaker government in Iraq would place severe limits on its sovereignty, including only partial command over its armed forces and no authority to enact new laws, administration officials said Thursday.
5. Photos Of Coffins Draw U.S. Crackdown
(Los Angeles Times)...Monte Morin
A website dedicated to publishing censored pictures and documents released dozens of photographs of coffins containing American war dead, which caused the Pentagon on Thursday to renew its ban on releasing such images to the media.
6. Terror Case Cleared For Trial
(Washington Post)...Jerry Markon
A federal appeals court yesterday cleared the way for Zacarias Moussaoui to be tried in a criminal court, ruling that he cannot interview key al Qaeda detainees and that he can be put to death for his alleged role in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
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7. Rumsfeld: No Need To Reinstate The Draft
(Philadelphia Inquirer)...Robert Burns, Associated Press
The Bush administration sees no need to reinstate the military draft, but it is pushing for improved Pentagon management of the 1.4-million-strong force to meet wartime needs, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said yesterday.
8. New U.S. Security Lineup Should Be Identified Now
(International Herald Tribune)...Michael R. Gordon
...For months, the conventional wisdom in Washington has been that the critics might not have Donald Rumsfeld to kick around any more. Having launched two wars, the defense secretary will probably move on along with Secretary of State Colin Powell, or so the speculation has gone. Their departure would clear the way for a new team and perhaps even open the door to new policies. But the corridor talk at the Pentagon is very different.
9. Photos Of Soldiers' Coffins Revive Controversy
(Washington Post)...Blaine Harden and Dana Milbank
The Pentagon lost its tight control over the images of coffins returning from Iraq as about 350 such images were released under the Freedom of Information Act and a Seattle newspaper published a similar photo taken by a military contractor.
10. Pentagon Families Look To Pros
(Washington Post)...Timothy Dwyer
...Yesterday, in a small and sweltering Senate conference room, the family members gathered for a news conference announcing a national drive to raise $30 million for the construction and maintenance of the Pentagon Memorial. The small room was full of luminaries. There were Sens. John W. Warner (R-Va.) and George Allen (R-Va.); retired Gen. Henry H. "Hugh" Shelton, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Joyce Rumsfeld, wife of the secretary of defense.
IRAQ
11. Marines Say Time Running Short In Fallujah
(Washington Post)...Rajiv Chandrasekaran and Karl Vick
The U.S. military said Thursday that little progress had been made in efforts to defuse tensions in this besieged city and warned that an all-out attack against insurgents holed up here could occur within days.
12. Allies Suspect Al Qaeda Link To Bombings In Basra; Death Toll Is Reduced
(New York Times)...Eric Schmitt
As the authorities scoured the sites of five nearly simultaneous car bombings that killed dozens of people here on Wednesday, allied military officials said the attacks bore the hallmarks of the Qaeda terrorist network but said they did not have proof.
13. Sadr's Backers Demonstrate In Basra
(Washington Post)...Pamela Constable
Hundreds of followers of an influential Shiite Muslim leader demonstrated in the southern city of Basra on Thursday as residents mourned the deaths of 73 people killed in five car bombings a day earlier.
14. Iraqis Blame Allies For Bombings
(Washington Times)...Annia Ciezadlo
Outraged by their country's collapse into chaos, some Iraqis are turning to a disturbing explanation for Wednesday morning's suicide bombings in Basra — that they must have been planned by British occupation forces or other U.S. allies.
15. Militia Has Holy Iraqi City On Edge
(Christian Science Monitor)...Dan Murphy
...While the situation in Najaf is calm, it is not resolved. US troops on the city's outskirts, who were ordered to kill or capture Mr. Sadr over a week ago, have begun to pull further away from the city. Commanders worry that a battle in the holy city would unite Iraq's Shiite community behind Sadr. Sadr has sought to paint himself as a symbol of Iraqi nationalism and resistance to occupation.
16. Policy Barring Ex-Baathists From Key Iraq Posts Is Eased
(New York Times)...Edward Wong
The American administration here said Thursday that it was loosening a policy aimed at purging the Iraqi government of members of the former governing Baath Party.
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17. 1,700 Troops For Iraq
(London Times)...Chris Johnston
ARMED FORCES chiefs are believed to be drawing up contingency plans to send 1,700 extra soldiers to Iraq in response to escalating violence and Spain’s decision to withdraw its 1,300 troops, starting in the next ten days.
18. Iraqi Military's Brutal Past Limits Use To U.S.
(USA Today)...Dave Moniz
The Bush administration should not have been surprised that the new Iraqi army would resist fighting fellow Iraqis, given the history of Middle East dictators using military forces to crush internal opposition, several military analysts say.
19. An Exile Group's Push For War Stirs Questions
(Philadelphia Inquirer)...Warren P. Strobel and Jonathan S. Landay
An Iraqi exile group may have violated restrictions against using taxpayer funds to lobby when it campaigned for U.S. action to oust Saddam Hussein, according to documents and U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the matter.
ARMY
20. Fort Hood Soldiers Return From Iraq
(Dallas Morning News)...Ed Timms
Fort Hood's 4th Infantry Division celebrated a homecoming on Thursday with military pageantry, top-name entertainment and a carnival – but was still mindful of comrades who will never return to their families and soldiers with other units who still face hazardous duty in Iraq.
21. Soldier Coming To See Mother
(Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)...John Diedrich
A 19-year-old U.S. Army soldier from Wisconsin is on his way home from Iraq to be with his gravely ill mother, the Army said Thursday.
22. A General Of Taps And Tears
(Christian Science Monitor)...Kris Axtman
At his 21 services since the war began, Maj. Gen. Alfred Valenzuela arrives early and emerges from his car in a crisp uniform and spit-shined shoes. Up green hills and down dirt paths, he walks alongside flag-draped coffins to support grieving families, to comfort, and to mourn.
MARINE CORPS
23. Wreckage Of Military Jet Is Found In Desert
(Los Angeles Times)...Times Wire Reports
Search crews on Thursday located the wreckage of a $28-million military fighter jet that crashed in the Imperial Valley desert, a Marine spokesman said. The pilot, the plane's sole occupant, remained unaccounted for and the search was continuing.
CONGRESS
24. Stretched Forces Prompting Calls To Restore Draft
(Baltimore Sun)...Tom Bowman
Despite continued opposition from Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, some lawmakers say it's time to bring back the draft, 31 years after it gave way to an all-volunteer force.
25. McCain To Bush: Another Division Is Needed In Iraq
(Philadelphia Inquirer)...Drew Brown
A leading Senate Republican called yesterday for President Bush to commit a division or more of fresh troops to quell the worst fighting in Iraq since the war began a year ago.
26. Administration Details Plan For Returning Power To Iraq
(Los Angeles Times)...Mary Curtius
Bush administration officials offered Congress on Thursday their most detailed explanation yet of U.S. plans for turning power over to Iraqis after June 30, saying that although the nation's sovereignty will be limited, the transition government will be in charge of most ministries, oil revenues and an international development fund.
27. Keeping Close Eye On Senator, Clinton-Watchers Increasingly See A Hawk
(New York Times)...Raymond Hernandez
...But these days, Senator Clinton, of New York, has offered a starkly different image, presenting herself as muscular on defense even when that puts her at odds with members of her own party. Even as the war in Iraq proves unpopular with her core base of liberal supporters, not to mention some mainstream Democrats, Mrs. Clinton has emerged as one of the most prominent Democratic backers of the military activities.
MIDEAST
28. Saudis Support A Jihad In Iraq, Not Back Home
(New York Times)...Neil MacFarquhar
...In Saudi Arabia, a strategic ally of the United States, violence against the occupation in Iraq is seen by many as jihad, or a holy struggle, but virtually no one accepts violence as jihad when it unrolls here at home, in the heart of what is supposed to be the most Muslim of countries.
NORTH KOREA
29. U.S. Doubts Kim's Commitment To End Nuclear Standoff
(Washington Times)...Nicholas Kralev
The Bush administration yesterday expressed skepticism about North Korea's commitment to resolving the nuclear standoff on the peninsula, despite this week's pledge by Kim Jong-il, the reclusive North Korean leader, to show "patience and flexibility" in negotiations.
AFGHANISTAN
30. Afghanistan: Bomb Explodes In Kandahar
(New York Times)...Carlotta Gall
Signs were growing of an urban bombing campaign by the Taliban as another bomb exploded overnight in the bazaar of the southern city of Kandahar. A man was killed and may have been setting the explosive at the time, the local military commander said. International peacekeeping forces, meanwhile, said they had arrested 17 people in Kabul, some of them with explosives.
UNITED NATIONS
31. Cuba Abandons Vote On Detainees Held By U.S. At Guantánamo
(New York Times)...Agence France-Presse
At the United Nations human rights forum, meeting here, Cuba decided Thursday against forcing a vote on reports of rights abuses at the detention center at the United States naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
POLL
32. Poll: Most See Iraq Link To Al-Qaeda
(Philadelphia Inquirer)...Frank Davies
A new poll shows that 57 percent of Americans believe that Saddam Hussein gave "substantial support" to al-Qaeda before the war with Iraq, despite a lack of evidence of that relationship.
33. Bush Approval Hits A Low Point In State
(Los Angeles Times)...Michael Finnegan
President Bush's popularity in California has dropped to the lowest level of his presidency amid rising public concern over his handling of Iraq and the economy, according to a new Los Angeles Times poll that found dislike of Bush driving support for his Democratic rival.
BUSINESS
34. Boeing's Misconduct Is Detailed In Memo
(Los Angeles Times)...Peter Pae
An internal Air Force memo suggests a broad pattern of improprieties by Boeing Co. when it bid on Pentagon contracts, apparently contradicting the aerospace giant's assertions that such problems were isolated and that it corrected them quickly.
35. Work Restarts On Projects Hurt By Strife, Officials Say
(New York Times)...Ian Fisher
Work on rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure is recovering from a near halt at the height of the violence earlier this month, project officials said on Thursday, though 10 percent of the foreign workers remain out of Iraq for safety and little is being done at 10 percent of the projects.
36. Contractors In Iraq Scale Back, Pull Out
(Washington Times)...Marguerite Higgins
...The sharp increase this month in attacks against civilian contractors by insurgents in Iraq is threatening critical efforts to restore the country's infrastructure, from electricity to water service.
37. Violence Slows Progress Of Iraq's Reconstruction
(Los Angeles Times)...David Streitfeld and Nicholas Riccardi
The escalation of violence in Iraq this month is curtailing the pace of U.S. government-financed reconstruction, but both contractors and U.S. officials maintained Thursday that the disruption so far has been relatively minor.
38. Hill International Awaits Deployment To Iraq
(Philadelphia Inquirer)...Suzette Parmley
With violence escalating in Iraq, a major South Jersey construction management company is awaiting word from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers of when to send its employees to begin work there.
OPINION
39. Troop Buildup In Iraq Exposes Critical Shortages
(USA Today)...Editorial
...But agreeing to add more U.S. troops is far easier than actually finding them. Though the U.S. can cobble together 20,000 or so extra troops in the short term, coming up with the hundreds of thousands of soldiers some military experts estimate are needed to quell the Iraqi resistance is fraught with problems. Most available troops, including reserves, have already been tapped for duty in Afghanistan, Iraq and ongoing commitments in 120 countries around the world. And foreign countries haven't provided the tens of thousands of troops the U.S. wanted.
40. Withdraw U.S. Troops
(USA Today)...Ralph Nader
Every day our exposed military remains in war-torn Iraq, we imperil U.S. security, drain our economy, ignore urgent domestic needs and prevent Iraqi democratic self-rule. We need to announce a withdrawal of our troops, not increase them.
41. New Course For Iraq
(Washington Post)...David Ignatius
If you're in a hole, stop digging. The Bush administration seems at last to have embraced that simple wisdom in its Iraq policy and is beginning to undo some of the earlier mistakes that got the U.S. occupation into such trouble.
42. What Went Wrong?
(New York Times)...Paul Krugman
On April 11 of last year, just after U.S. forces took Baghdad, I warned that the Bush administration had a "pattern of conquest followed by malign neglect," and that the same was likely to happen in Iraq. I'm sorry to say those worries proved justified.
43. Hamdi And Habeas Corpus
(Wall Street Journal)...Timothy Lynch
...A close examination of the Hamdi case, however, shows that the constitutional stakes could not be higher. That's because the Bush administration has been using the Hamdi case to advance a sweeping theory of executive branch power. According to this theory, the president can deprive anyone in the world of his liberty and hold that person incommunicado indefinitely. The president need only be careful to issue an "enemy combatant" order to his secretary of defense, not the attorney general. The president's legal advisers have made it clear that it does not matter if the prisoner is seized on a battlefield overseas or in some sleepy town in the American heartland. And it does not matter if the prisoner is a foreign national or an American citizen.
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44. Pakistani Troops Rescued U.S. Rangers At Mogadishu -- (Letter)
(Wall Street Journal)...Mansoor Suhail
...The actual situation was quite the contrary. Had the Pakistani peacekeepers not come to rescue the embattled Rangers, U.S. casualties would have been far higher. The role of Pakistani peacekeepers was duly acknowledged by all concerned.
EDITORIAL
45. The Real War
(New York Times)...Editorial
...Since 1991, the Defense Department has prohibited taking photographs of the coffins of members of the armed services while they are being transported back to the United States. The reverent portrait Ms. Silicio produced demonstrates how irrational that policy is. The theory seems to be that the pictures are intrusive, or possibly hurtful, to bereaved families. But it seems far more likely that the Pentagon is concerned about the impact that photos of large numbers of flag-draped coffins may have on the American public's attitude toward the war.
